The first mouse of '12

I killed a mouse this morning.
Well, it may have been last night. In any case, upon coming downstairs this morning, I could see that it was dead.
This is no surprise. I may be a veterinarian, but unlike my friend, Lyn, I am not a catch and release mouser.
I have two traps set 365 days a year on either side of the stove, pushed way to the back, nearly tucked behind. They are deadly and not frightening to use, unlike the old wooden kind where you hazarded a broken finger every time you set the wire killer piece balanced precariously on the little wire arm. . Ortho makes my plastic harbingers of mousey death.
When we first moved to Cowfeathers, the mice had been enjoying a rather cush deal. Just yards from the back of our kitchen is a corn field. The little brown critters would have a fine fall eating bits of corn, and then when it turned cold, would come live in our house. I am definitely in the "Ick" camp when it comes to living with mice. But, the kitchen was old, and the walls were poor defense against mice.
In 2007, we put an addition on to the house, and I took that opportunity to put windows in the west wall of the kitchen, over the sink and facing the cornfield. I ripped off the old drywall (it had been done in the mid-eighties last) to reveal the bones of a wall with a few pitiful wilted spits of insulation meant for insulating homes in San Francisco. That, and many nests from the icky brown beasts. Suddenly, it made perfect sense, both why we had happy mice, and why our kitchen topped out at about 42 degrees all winter and we had to keep the water dripping from November through May.
So, I invested in a large bag of steel wool and then a whole bunch of insulation.

In this photo from 20007, I was painting the kitchen floor. You can see the sanded brown parts I haven't gotten to yet. On the left of the photo is Middlest and Youngest, banned from the kitchen. You can see my new, light filled windows and the sink stand I built with Kendra, holding the old sink from my Middlest Sister's renovated farm house, as well as appliances. Now, to the left of the windows, you can see the drywall is not finished above the stove. You can see the cross piece of ancient framing, and in between the studs- beautiful insulation. Our kitchen now holds around 60 degrees all winter! Okay, if it is really cold and the wind is high, it needs to have some cooking being done to reach 60. But, still. For those who have not had battles with the Mouse King, the steel wool is to shove in every nook and cranny you can find. The mice don't like to chew through the steel. Useful tip, eh?

And, the drywall did get finished. Here is Youngest putting some up next to the kitchen stairs.
The steel wool has mostly done it's job, and the mice stay out of the kitchen, except for the occasional creature who will climb up the back of the stove and poke his head out for a nice little dish of peanut butter. Ew.
Thank you Ortho, for your help.